What would you do to save a puffin? How about getting up at 3am to give it food? Or taking it home to nurse?
These are the kind of lengths Linda Walker and Paul King of the Mablethorpe Seal Sanctuary and Wildlife Centre have gone to in order to get one puffin, literally, back on its feet.
They discovered a living puffin amongst dozens of dead birds washed up on the stretch of coast between Donna Nook and Anderby Creek at the end of March.
Linda said, 'He was exhausted when we found him and so weak that it took him six days just to be able to stand up'.
He survival was due to much TLC on Linda's part. When he first arrived at the sanctuary, he was given a drink of glucose mixed with water to restore his strength and then placed on a heat pad for an hour to get warm. He was then hand fed with small fish until he was able to eat from a dish.
To ensure he had round-the-clock care, Linda even took him home and he spent a few nights in her spare room in a cage next to the radiator - giving the bedroom a lovely fishy pong.
And just as with any invalid, food played an important part in the recovery process. Late night feeds at 10pm and early morning ones at 5am meant there were some very bleary eyed members of staff. Linda also got up for a 3am feed during the early days.
The result was one fighting fit puffin raring to get back to sea. And handful of lucky visitors were delighted to witness his release and get the chance to come face-to-face with a puffin.
Linda and Paul will return with other rescued seabirds for release over the coming weeks. Nothing could make us happier than to see them fly off from the viewing platforms.
Find out more about Mablethorpe Seal Sanctuary and Wildlife Centre at www.thesealsanctuary.co.uk
Paul from Mablethorpe Seal Sanctuary hands the puffin to RSPB volunteer, Allan Dawson
Allan and the lucky puffin
We have lift off!